I invite you to listen to a message
of sovereign grace by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor
Gabe Stoniker. I would like to speak to you
today from John chapter 7. And the title of this message
is, Are You Thirsty? Am I Thirsty? Years ago, a man made this statement. It's a good statement. He said,
I preach as a dying man to dying men. And that's how I preach. I say
that with him. I preach as a dying man to dying
men. Dying men and women. Seeing the
seriousness and the reality of eternity. Most people don't see
the seriousness and they don't see the reality of eternity,
never ending eternity. But it is a reality. And it is
fast approaching. Fast approaching. Men and women
are going into eternity every single day. And seeing the seriousness
of that and the reality of that will cause a man to preach as
a dying man to dying men. Every day that goes by, we are
one day closer to eternity. We preach, those who preach God's
truth, preach personally. Personally. We preach as sinners. to sinners. We acknowledge David
acknowledged what he was before God. And every man who God reveals
this truth to and calls him to preach this truth will preach
as a sinner. To sinners. Personally, he will
preach as a beggar. To a beggar. True preaching. is one beggar telling another
beggar where he found food, where he found bread. Well, with that
being said, that this is our personal message. This is from
the heart. With that being said, the message
that God called preachers declare is actually the message of the
Lord Jesus Christ himself. He preached it. And then he personally
impresses the heart of his preachers to go out and declare his message. We are just repeating what he
said. That's all we're doing. That's
all that true preaching really is. We repeat the message of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We repeat what he has recorded
in his word. We don't add anything to it. We don't take anything from it,
we just repeat it. That's all. We are bringing the
glory of the message of Christ to sinners who need it. That's
what God's preachers do. We're just bringing the glory
of His word to sinners just like us who need it. We need it. This
right here is the glory of His gospel. This right here is what
makes the message of Christ such good news. He preached as a dying
man to dying men. That's the glory of the gospel.
The Lord Jesus Christ preached as the dying man for dying men. How wonderful. How wonderful. Now, let's listen to his message
right here. John chapter 7 verse 37, it says, In the last day,
that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying,
If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. How wonderful. How wonderful,
that's his message. Now this is our message this
morning, and we're about to look at exactly what our Lord was
saying in this. We're gonna repeat what he has
said, and I pray he will reveal the truth to us in what he just
said. As we look at this, I pray the
Lord will allow us to enter into the fact, and I hope the Lord
makes this clear. I pray he'll let us enter into
the fact that the door of the ark is wide open right now. You know what I mean by that?
The door of the ark is wide open right now. God told Noah to build
an ark, and Noah did. He did it. And the whole time
Noah worked on that ark, He preached the wrath of God against the
sin of man. That's the whole reason he built
the ark. God said, my wrath against sin
is coming. And he told Noah, you build an
ark and you tell everybody if they want to live, they have
to be in this ark. Only the ones who were in the ark were saved.
And that's exactly what he did. The whole time he built that
ark, he preached the one way of escape. He preached God's
wrath against sin, God's judgment on sin, and the one way of escape,
the ark. The ark. And when the ark was
finished, finally finished, God put Noah and his family inside
that ark. And they sat there inside that
ark. Seven days, the door to that ark was wide open. Seven
days. Any man or woman who wanted to
could walk right on in. Any man or woman who heard the
warning and feared God and wanted to live in the safety of that
ark could walk right on in. The sad truth, though, of man's
depravity is No one wanted to. No one wanted to. I can envision
in my mind men and women walking up to the door of that ark and
putting their hand on the side and looking in and looking around
and seeing what all Noah built and there sits Noah and he said,
come on in, brother. There's plenty of room. God's
wrath is coming. His judgment is coming. Come
on in. And they look around and say,
no thanks. See you later. After seven days, God shut the
door, that ark. God shut the door. Noah didn't
shut it. God shut the door, that ark. And his wrath rained down
and it was too late. It was too late. So I very happily,
I very happily tell you the door of the ark is open right now.
The door is open right now. It's wide open. That ark is Christ. That arc that Noah built pointed
to Christ. The true arc of safety against
God's wrath is the Lord Jesus Christ. If any person has a desire
to enter into Christ and find eternal safety for his soul,
let him come. Let him come. The door's wide
open. The news is so good, isn't it? We have good news. The gospel's
called good news. That's what we're doing. We're
preaching good news and it's so good. It's so good. Better news than we could ever
imagine. Well, our Lord said right here in John 7 verse 37,
in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
cried saying, If. If. Now that if right there is
a big if. That's a big if. While most people believe that
that if falls on you and me. That if is directed at you and
me. The truth of the matter is it's
not. It's not, not at all. Look back
at chapter six. If you have your Bible there,
look with me at chapter six, verse 35. It says, Jesus said
unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall
never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Now, did we hear what he just
said? He said, I'm the bread of life. He that cometh to me
will never hunger. And he that believeth on me will
never thirst. Now look at verse 44. He said,
no man can come to me. You see that? No man can come
to me. He's saying, if you come to me. That's what he's saying to this
sinner right here. If you come to me. You'll never hunger and
you'll never thirst ever again. But he also says, no man can
come to me. No man can come, he said, except. The father which had sent me
draw him. And I will raise him up at the
last day. Coming to Christ. is something
that is totally dependent on His doing. As we search the scripture,
we're going to see that on page after page after page. Coming
to Christ is something that is totally, completely dependent
on His doing. He must do it. If we, it is only because He. Does that
make sense? If we. It's only because he he
said no man can come to me except the father which has sent me
draw him, reach down, lay hold of that center and pull that
center to himself. And whoever the father draws. Centers can't come on their own,
but whoever the father draws. I will raise him up at the last
day." At the last day. Back in John 5, one chapter before
that, verse 40, he said, you will not come to me that you
might have life. He said in John 6, you cannot. And he said in John 5, you will
not. There's nothing in the heart that desires to come to Christ,
not on its own. So the if It definitely falls
on him. It definitely falls on him. Now,
back over in chapter 7, it says, In the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man, any
man. Now let me ask this question,
and I hope that you and I both know the answer to this question.
Do the scriptures teach that God has an elect people? Do they teach that? Do they teach
that God has a particular number of chosen people that he predetermined
to save? Do the scriptures teach that?
Absolutely, they do. That word election is in the
scripture in some form 27 times. But election is on every single
page in God's Word. It says we were chosen in Him
before the foundation of the world. Chosen by God. Chosen. If a sinner can't come and won't
come, he has to be chosen. Isn't that right? Chosen. Now let me ask this question.
Do the scriptures teach that God will save His people? and only His people? Do the scriptures teach that
the redemption of Christ, when He died on that cross and He
shed His blood for sin, do the scriptures teach that He shed
His blood only for the sins of every soul that His Father chose
to save? Do the scriptures teach that
it was a particular redemption, not just a general redemption?
But a particular redemption? Yes, they do. Our Lord said,
I pray not for the world, I pray for them which thou hast given
me. They are thine. Particular redemption. Well, if that's the case, then
why did the Lord Jesus Christ say any man? Why did he say that? And why would we now stand up
and preach Why would I come on this broadcast now and preach
any man if the salvation of God only applies to his elect? Why would I do that? Turn with
me over to Matthew 22. And while you're turning over
there, I'll give us the answer. Our Lord did not stand up and
cry this beautiful message to any man. He didn't. He did not speak these words
of peace and life to just any man. He said, I'm speaking to
any man or woman who is thirsty. That's what he said. I'm speaking
to any man or woman who is thirsty. He cried, if any man thirst. That's particular. If any man
thirst, that's who he's speaking to. Now, Matthew 22 verse 14
says, For many are called, but few are chosen. There's election. Many are called, but few are
chosen. This gospel goes out to everybody. Many hear it. Few are chosen. Chosen to be what? Thirsty. Thirsty. So thirsty. This flesh naturally
does not thirst for God. I know that so, and you know
that so. This flesh naturally does not
thirst for the things of God. It thirsts for the things of
this world. We know that so I know that so
this flesh right here naturally thirsts for sin. It's the truth. It has a thirst for it. It does not thirst for God. It
just does not thirst. If we think about this, thirst
is an acknowledgment. Of lack. It's an acknowledgment
of need. That's what it is. It's a desire
to fill it. That's what it is. These bodies
thirst for water. We do all the time, don't we?
Get thirsty. And that thirst is what keeps
these bodies alive. If we did not have a thirst,
we would never know that we were completely empty. And if we didn't
know that, we'd die. If we did not know that this
body is about to shut down, if it does not get water, we would
die. That thirst is what tells us
if I don't lay hold of this living, life-giving water, I'm going
to die. I'm going to die. If I don't
have this, I'm going to die. That's thirst. That's thirst. Now this message of Christ, This
message goes out into the ears of everybody. Everybody. Many are called. Many truly are
called, but few are chosen. Few are chosen to receive the
gift of this thirst. Having a thirst in the heart
for God Almighty. Having a thirst for the necessary
things of salvation, that's a gift of God, that is a gift of God. Few are chosen to receive an
acknowledgment of their spiritual lack, few. Few are chosen to receive an
acknowledgment of their spiritual need. Few are given a spiritual
desire, a desire in the heart to fill it. Very few. Very few. But I tell you this,
if he has given you that desire, if he's given me that desire,
If His mercy and His grace and His kindness has given us that
desire, if any man thirst, truly thirst, David said back in the
Psalms, he said, as the deer pants for the waterbrook, so
panteth my soul after thee. Oh, God. He said, My soul thirsteth
for God, for the living God. Thirsty. If you thirst for forgiveness
from sin, are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? Have you sinned?
Have you done things that eat at the core of your guilt and
your shame? Do you fear standing before God
because of the things that you've done? If any man thirsts for
forgiveness from sin, I mean wiped clean. Do you crave that? I crave that. Do you need to
be in that ark? That ark is Christ. Do you need,
do you know that God's judgment is about to rain down? It's coming. Do you need to be inside that
ark? God's going to shut that door, isn't he? Must you be in
that ark before he shuts that door? The kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence and the violent Take it by force, that's what God
said in his word. Does your heart cry with Jacob? I will not let you go except
you bless me. I have to have it, I have to
have it. Would you love nothing more than
to be crucified with Christ and found in him? Is that your heart's
desire? Must you have his blood on you? Must you be covered in that blood
or else you'll die? Do you thirst for righteousness? Do you? The righteousness of
Christ, the goodness of who he is, his grace, his mercy, his
favor, his kindness, do you thirst for that? Do you want him? That's the question. Do you want
Him? Do you want to be just like Him? Conformed to His image? If you
do, listen to Matthew 5, verse 6 says, Blessed are they which
do hunger and thirst after righteousness. Righteousness is a person. Christ
is God's righteousness. Are they which do hunger and
thirst after righteousness, they shall be filled. They're going
to be filled with the righteousness of Christ himself. Christ in
you is your hope of glory. It's my hope of glory. If God
has given us that thirst, there are no ifs, ands, or buts about
it. We're going to be filled. We shall be filled. And that's what our Lord is telling
us. Back in John 7, verse 37 says, In the last day, that great
day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man
thirst, let him come. How wonderful. You'll be allowed
to. That's what he's saying. You
won't be killed on sight. That's what he's saying. Because
of man's sin, because of man's sin, no man can see God and live. Men are going to meet him every
day. Like we just said, they're going
on their own. They're not going in Christ. They don't need Christ. They're
representing themselves in every single day. God is killing men
and women. Judging them, damning them. And he says right here, if I've
given you a thirst for a remedy from your sin, if I've given
you a thirst for an advocate to stand before God on your behalf,
someone to take your place, if I've given you that thirst for
a remedy, then I've provided you the remedy. If you have a
thirst for Christ, then you have been given Christ. You have been. If you need to be in the ark,
then it means you already have a place in the ark. Come on in. There's already a place reserved
for you. Come on in. The door is wide
open. It's wide open. Verse 37 says, If any man thirst,
let him come unto me. That's what our Lord said. Unto
me. Christ is the living water. If any man thirst, he said, you
come to me. He is the only one who can satisfy
the thirst that God gives. He's the only one that woman
with an issue of blood. She said, oh, if I could just
get to him. Him. All my need would be satisfied
if I could just touch him. He said, come to me. That's what
he says, come to me. Do you have a thirst in the heart,
in the soul for Christ? If so, come to Him. Come to the one that you are
thirsting for. He has plenty for you. Back in
Psalm, the book of Psalm chapter 46, it says, there is a river. There's a river. The streams
make the people of God so glad. There's a river. There's a song
with that title. There is a river. One of the
lines in that song says there was a thirsty woman who was drawing
from a well. Her life was ruined and wasted. Her soul was bound for hell. Then. She met the master. who told of her great sin, that's
the first thing he told her, her own sin. First thing he revealed
to her, her own sin. And he said, if you drink this
water, he told her of her need, and he said, if you drink this
water, you'll never thirst again. There is a river that flows from
deep within, not deep within me, deep within him. There is
a fountain There's a fountain of blood. Another song says it's
drawn straight from Emmanuel's veins. There is a fountain that
frees the soul from sin. Come to this water. There is
a vast supply. Christ is the river that never
shall run dry. Never. Are you thirsty? Are you
thirsty? Come. You bring your dry, parched,
dead soul to the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll satisfy all your desire. All your desire. John 7, verse
37, he said, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. You know, that's not a work.
That's what you do when you rest. You stop working to drink. Stop working. Come to the Lord
Jesus Christ. and rest in Him. Until next week,
may the Lord bless His word to our hearts.